Monthly Archives: August 2012

I had mentioned in a previous post about Tolkien’s opposition of machinery in favor of trees. Carpenter elaborates on Tolkien’s love for trees in chapter two of his biography: (Tolkien) was more interested in the shape and feel of a … Continue reading →

Yes, we are to store God’s word in our hearts. Yes, it will keep us from sin. But we are not instructed to cram His Word into our hearts sideways or upside down. God’s Word cannot be properly hidden in … Continue reading →

George Friedman’s book The Next 100 Years offers a profound analysis of our past history in order to make proper predictions of the future. Friedman’s prognostication assumes that the world will pivot around the United States. The responsibility placed on the United … Continue reading →

Young Tolkien (also known as “Tollers” by his close friends) endured much as a little boy, including the death of his father, Arthur. His childhood days in South Africa did not leave too many impressionable moments in his mind, but … Continue reading →

This is how Tolkien views machinery in his Middle-Earth. Horne elaborates: The basics of Tolkien’s love for trees and nature over his dislike for machinery were set early in his life. Later, the reader finds virtually all mention of “machinery” … Continue reading →

In Horne’s biography of Tolkien he observed that what truly motivated Tolkien’s writings were not only the literary influences in his life, but the Christian faith, which “…helped him deal with the crises and losses in his life made it … Continue reading →

I’ve begun reading through Tolkien’s biography by Humphrey Carpenter. His first chapter details his visit to Professor Tolkien’s home. A few things struck me: First, Professor Tolkien is deeply engaged with his pipe. His pipe is almost symbolic in that … Continue reading →

Human history begins in hunger, and hunger—whether for bread or for land or for glory or for God—motivates much of human history. Hunger is a sign of our radical dependence. This is why Jesus says: “Blessed are you who hunger … Continue reading →

In preparation for my interview with Mark Horne for Trinity Talk and my biography Sunday School at Providence on J.R.R. Tolkien, I have been re-visiting some old works and exposing myself to some new ones on the creator of Middle-Earth. … Continue reading →

The political discourse is uglier today than it was in the last two campaigns I have followed (04 & 08). However, I have attempted to find some equilibrium between the side that says that the Republican Party has completely lost … Continue reading →

Rayburn concludes his magisterial essay by speaking of the ministerial role: It is the work of a lifetime and the whole work of a lifetime to preach the Word of God with the humanity, earnestness, accuracy, insight, and power which … Continue reading →

Robert Rayburn argues convincingly in his famous essay Ministers, Elders, and Deacons that the Old Covenant structure assumes a three-office view in that “the eldership was a ruling office only and was clearly differentiated in membership, status, calling, and responsibility from the … Continue reading →

The Gospel has a magnificent way of destroying our pride. It provides for us a strong antidote to the vicious cycle of sin, our own sin. Jesus died to forgive us, but at times we are oblivious to this reality, … Continue reading →

Dear Andrew, Your visit to this good part of the country was a true blessing. Thanks for entertaining me with Rushdoony stories. My reading of Rush early on was instrumental in shaping my vastly dichotomized theology. Dr. Doony (inside joke, … Continue reading →

Rob Dreher explains why libertarianism is becoming appealing. He concludes: In other words, to protect my ability to educate my children in a conservative way, I’m learning a strange new respect for libertarianism.

People of God, we are going to look this morning into the final four sins that God despises. As we said last week, God is a God who views sins, and in particular, certain sins, as abominable. They are contrary … Continue reading →

In Perelandra, C.S. Lewis’s protagonist says of his friend Ransom, who has recently returned from another planet, “A Man who has been in another world does not come back unchanged.” If we think of the glory of heaven where Christ … Continue reading →

Timothy Hatfield asked me what I would tell Tebow if I were his pastor. Since I have offered some positive observations of the Tebow phenomenon in the past, I felt compelled to offer a few brief words of pastoral advice: … Continue reading →

Karl Menninger, [1]the author of the great classic Whatever Became of Sin, observed that humans have become less aware of their own sinfulness. Menninger, as far as I know, was not an Orthodox Christian, but he has a far better … Continue reading →

As an amateur Rand reader and as an O’Connor enthusiast, this got the first laugh of the day: “I hope you don’t have friends who recommend Ayn Rand to you. The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you … Continue reading →

Russell Moore tackles the oft used and abused passage from Acts. The entire article is worth consuming. Moore concludes: Christians must make sense of pop culture by judging it in terms of the story we embrace. When that happens, we’ll … Continue reading →

“There is not one square inch that Jesus does not claim ‘Mine,’ ” wrote the great Dutch theologian, Abraham Kuyper. Many of us agree with this universal claim, but at the same time we also differ in how this particular … Continue reading →

In a footnote in Bonomo’s Incarnation and Sacrament, he quotes Brenner’s description of that profound meeting of two of the greatest minds in 19th century Reformational history: The meeting of Nevin and Schaff was like the concurrence of two heavenly bodies of … Continue reading →

Mathison describes in very clear terms the uniqueness of Nevin in the 19th century ecclesiastical environment: In the midst of a church that had been heavily influenced by the new measures of revivalism of Charles Finney, anti-clerical and primitivist restorationism, democratic … Continue reading →

People of God, it is truly an unfortunate reality today that the Church has become silent on a host of issues. We have certainly addressed this trend before in my sermon on “Marriage and the Public Gospel,” but it needs … Continue reading →

Keith Mathison summarizes Calvin’s view of the Eucharist in his foreword to Jonathan Bonomo Incarnation and Sacrament. Mathison argues that Calvin followed Augustine in defining a sacrament as a “visible sign of a sacred thing.” For Calvin, …the sacraments seal the … Continue reading →

Brothers and sisters, this table is for the wise. But wisdom is not defined by a university professor, but by our Lord. Jesus gives wisdom without regard to status and age. He gives wisdom to little infants, and to all … Continue reading →

One of our great projects as a new society in Jesus Christ is to shame the wise and the strong of this world. Paul addresses this in I Corinthians 1. He is writing in the context of a very elite … Continue reading →